These classic treats are always a hit! Crispy Rice Squares make the perfect snack or sweet treat. Enjoy them as is or get creative with different mixins and toppings.
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Classic Crispy Rice Squares
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 4 cups marshmallows
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 5 cups crisp rice cereal
Instructions
- Grease a 9×13 pan with a little bit of butter. Grease it up real nice. Set it aside.
- In a large pot, melt butter on medium-low heat.
- Once the butter has completely melted, add the marshmallows. Stir until they've mostly melted.
- Add one teaspoon of vanilla extract. Stir until all the marshmallows have completely melted, leaving you with this silky but sticky mixture.
- Take the pot off of the heat. Add in the crisp rice cereal. Stir until the cereal and marshmallows are well mixed and embracing each other. You'll need a good spoon or spatula for this step. I almost thought my poor spatula would break because the mixture gets pretty intense near the end.
- Pour (or scoop) this mixture into your greased pan. I recommend also using a spoon for this step so you don't end up with sticky hands.
- Lightly press down. It's ok if the entire 9×13 pan doesn't completely fill up. I also had some blank space at the side. It just depends how big you want your squares to be.
- Let it rest on the counter for an hour. Cut those bad boys into squares and enjoy!
Notes
Tips and Tricks for Crispy Rice Squares
Use Rainbow Marshmallows
Swap out regular marshmallows for the rainbow variety to make unicorn squares. These look awesome at kids’ birthday parties.
Don’t Feel Obligated to Fill the Pan
For this recipe, I used a 9×13 baking dish. Personally, I love my squares to be thick and huge. If that’s also the case for you, the “batter” likely won’t fill the entire pan. That’s totally ok and your squares will still turn out. That being said, if you prefer thinner squares, feel free to spread it out throughout the whole pan.
Switch up the Cereal
While the classic recipe uses crisp rice cereal, you can try using a different cereal or doing half rice cereal and half of something else. Here are a few ideas for different cereals you can use.
- Cinnamon sugar cereal/cinnamon squares
- Corn flakes
- Fruit flavoured cereal rings
- Marshmallow cereal
- Oat cereal
- Shredded wheat
Mixins and Toppings for Crispy Rice Squares
- Candy coated chocolate pieces
- Caramel
- Chocolate chips (white, butterscotch, milk, dark, whatever floats your boat)
- Chopped chocolate bars or other candies
- Cookies (chopped or crushed)
- Dried fruit
- Melted chocolate
- Nuts (chopped or crushed)
- Peanut butter or another nut butter
- Shredded coconut
- Sprinkles
Try Other Recipes
Who would’ve thought cereal would make an incredible addition to the wonderful world of baking? Check out some other recipes here.